Royal Mail have announced a new initiative to ensure it will have a fully electric fleet by 2030. The move comes as the company builds on its ambitions to become a net zero carbon emission business with a 100% alternative fuel fleet.

Under the plans, the Company will rework all of its current car schemes to accelerate the switch to electric vehicles. This includes widening the access to electric company cars for those colleagues who need a car to do their job. By 2025, only electric cars will be available to order across all company car schemes.

There is plenty of debate on the good and bad of EVs and with it still being early days in the development of them, things like travel distance, battery life, and charging point locations are still being questioned. For courier companies, however, using electric vehicles to deliver locally before heading back to the depot for a recharge seems sensible and realistic.

Royal Mail’s Company car fleet is already changing and has undergone a significant move to electric vehicles since the April 2020 tax changes. Around half of company car orders are now for electric vehicles. This new initiative is aimed at accelerating this trend by encouraging the take up of more electric vehicles in a push to reduce the Company’s emissions still further.

With the UK’s largest “Feet on the Street” network of over 85,000 postmen and women, Royal Mail already has the lowest reported CO2e emissions per parcel amongst major UK delivery companies. The expansion of alternative fuel vehicles demonstrates the Company’s commitment to reducing emissions associated with its operations, and to delivering a cleaner future.